Bottom line: Shanghai will bid aggressively for Chinese tech firms to list on a new Nasdaq-style board planned for the city, while shares of companies privatizing from New York will continue to sag in sync with China’s stock market sell-off.
Soccer club eyes IPO on new Shanghai board
A new Shanghai-based Chinese board that aims to compete with Wall Street for new high-tech listings is moving closer to reality, with reports that Baidu’s (Nasdaq: BIDU) iQiyi online video service and Alibaba’s (NYSE: BABA) affiliated Ant Financial unit will be among the exchange’s inaugural listing candidates. A separate report also says that another Alibaba-affiliated company, soccer team Evergrande Taobao, will also list on the board, which is being referred to right now as the new strategic industries board.
Meantime in New York, the current week looks set to end with just a single privatization announcement for a US-listed Chinese firm, a sharp slowdown from the 20 earlier offers in the month of June. In this case the abrupt slowdown is at least partly due to the plunge in China’s stock markets this week, and we’re unlikely to see any more offers until the situation stabilizes. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Yingli’s use of crowd-funding to finance a small project and the bargain sale price of a small polysilicon maker reflect continuing struggles at second-tier solar companies and the need for more consolidation.
Desperate Yingli tries crowd funding
Two solar energy stories are showing how overcapacity continues to haunt the sector 2 years after it began to emerge from a major downturn. The first involves a desperate-looking fund-raising plan from the struggling Yingli (NYSE: YGE), which is trying to use crowd funding to pay for a new solar plant. The other news involves another slightly bizarre investment in the space, with Internet titan Tencent (HKEx: 700) and real estate giant Evergrande (HKEx: 3333) paying a bargain price for Mascotte (HKEx: 136), a money-losing Taiwanese maker of polysilicon, the main ingredient used to make solar panels. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Chinese appliance makers and Internet companies need to focus their smart device efforts on one or two key alliances each, or risk spreading their resources too thin.
Haier in new tie-up with Evergrande
Smart devices look set to become a theme of the New Year, with new reports that domestic appliance giants Haier (HKEx: 1169) and Midea (Shenzhen: 000333) have formed major new tie-ups to develop the space. Similar alliances began accelerating in the second half of last year and are aimed at developing the “Internet of Things”, which envisions an interconnected world where devices and their owners can talk to each other at any time over a wide range of wired and wireless networks. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on January 3-5. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Fosun (HKEx: 656) Wins Contest For Club Med As Andrea Bonomi To Drop Bid (English article)
Haier-Evergrande, JD.com-Midea In New Alliances For 2015 (Chinese article)
Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) Receves “Going Private” Proposal at $20 Per ADS (PRNewswire)
Renren (NYSE: RENN) Announces Resignation Of CFO, Board Changes (PRNewswire)
Xiaomi Doubles Revenue to $12 Billion as Phone Sales Triple (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 9. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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iPhone Orders To 3 China Telcos Top 1 Mln In First 6 Hours (Chinese article)
China, EU Close To Deal On Telecoms Trade Dispute- Sources (English article)
KFC (NYSE: YUM) China Same-Store Sales Fall 14 Pct In August (Chinese article)
Alibaba-Distributed (NYSE: BABA) Game Mistake Exposes Private Videos (English article)
Evergrande (HKEx: 3333) Invests In E Bon (HKEx: 599) In Solar Drive (Chinese article)
Just months after tapping financial markets for nearly $250 million, solar panel maker Trina (NYSE: TSL) has just announced another plan to raise a similar amount as it tries to take advantage of improving sentiment towards its sector. Such fund-raising would have been unthinkable as recently as a year ago, when recovery of the solar panel sector was far from certain following a prolonged downturn. In a relatively positive sign, Trina’s latest fund-raising plan didn’t trigger a major sell-off in its shares, indicating investors are more confident of the company’s and the sector’s future prospects. Read Full Post…
E-commerce leader Alibaba has long insisted on a shareholding structure that would put all decision making powers in its top managers, and now we’re getting a taste of what that could mean with word that the company will buy a stake in one of China’s best known soccer teams. On the surface at least, this deal doesn’t look very attractive. Most or all of China’s soccer clubs are losing money, and the league has a record for poor marketing and also a series of corruption scandals that have hurt its reputation. Any ordinary Alibaba shareholder would probably instantly veto such a purchase if he had that kind of voting power. Read Full Post…
How many short sellers does it take to kill a strange tiger, or the company more commonly known as Internet software security specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU)? The question itself may sound strange, but Qihoo, whose Chinese name means “strange tiger,” is once again in the spotlight after its data has been questioned once again by yet another short seller. This marks the third time such a report has come out since late last year, reflecting the wide degree of skepticism that many feel towards this company and its controversial leader.
It’s summertime and that means the short selling sharks have come out in search of new prey, making fresh attacks on PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) and real estate braggart Evergrande (HKEx: 3333) in a bid to capitalize on lingering investor doubts about Chinese companies’ accounting practices. Both companies saw their shares tumble late last week after negative reports came out, with Lenovo shares shedding 11 percent while Evergrande fell as much as 18 percent.
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 23-25. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
How many short sellers does it take to kill a strange tiger, or the company more commonly known as Internet software security specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU)? The question itself may sound strange, but Qihoo, whose Chinese name means “strange tiger,” is once again in the spotlight after its data has been questioned once again by yet another short seller. This marks the third time such a report has come out since late last year, reflecting the wide degree of skepticism that many feel towards this company and its controversial leader.
It’s summertime and that means the short selling sharks have come out in search of new prey, making fresh attacks on PC giant Lenovo (HKEx: 992) and real estate braggart Evergrande (HKEx: 3333) in a bid to capitalize on lingering investor doubts about Chinese companies’ accounting practices. Both companies saw their shares tumble late last week after negative reports came out, with Lenovo shares shedding 11 percent while Evergrande fell as much as 18 percent.
